The author, Sam McNerny, argues in his article Correcting Creativity: The Struggle for Eminence about how creativity has been brought down to a level by being popularized by public opinion at the expense of true eminent creators. He defines creativity as a struggle and a result and to have creativity of the highest level, that person who hones that cognitive ability is called an eminent creator. The contrast he draws from the 21st century is in which creativity as become a buzzword for pseudo-intellectuals, pseudo-entrepreneurs and pseudo-artists. He goes further into saying the people he has mentioned call themselves creative, however really are not due to their flimsy commitment and lack of sacrifice for their craft.
The distinction between little c creativity and BIG C creativity is that the BIG C creativity is a learning process in itself rather than a cheaply thrown descriptor. The author refers to Harvard professor Howard Gardner as an expert in determining BIG C creativity. In Gardner's Creating Minds, those true creators that possess true creativity from the 20th century are Stravinsky, Picasso, Freud, Eliot, Graham, Gandhi and Einstein. The author and Gardner share in this reasoning that these seven eminent creators had to bargain away what could have been a fulfilling personal life. Rather, through the intensity of their self sacrifice, inversely their talent for creativity existed.
The author and Gardner describe creativity as something original and found in exploring uncharted waters. The author alludes to Nietzsche, who wrote that creativity is about breaking old systems of thought and breaking the status quo. Nietzsche believed that the conflict between those who were willing to truly be creative had the conflict of having enough courage to break out of the "herd mentality." To be truly creative is a process of learning that takes its toll. The author describes creativity as a grueling process of learning, making mistakes and persevering. True creativity requires everything to be sacrificed and the struggle to be the utmost priority. His fear of how the eminent creator's struggles are not correctly explored as outrageous and against the norm before becoming a masterpiece is taking away credit from the eminent creators. Furthermore, the author compares creativity to another entity, love, in which people have become disillusioned and creativity has become like unrealistic love.
In Guitar Zero, Gary Marcus explores the common theme of ability. He describes ability in two dimensions - talent vs hard work - giving account to both, and concluding that talent and hard work aren't completely independent but rather dependent when it comes to different masters in their crafts. Similarly, McNerny is gettting at the essence of creativity while Marcus juggles with the philosophy of ability as well. Both cognitive scientists have similar philosophies, stressing the importance of long hours and special intuition (talent). If we were to use the BIG C and little c analogy in Gary Marcus' journey in Guitar Zero, we will see that little c defines those children with an instrument jamming or taking part in band camps while BIG C are those true masters such as Hendrix and the unknown and un-marketed that have devoted their entire life to becoming masters at guitar.
In this sense, I believe there are also levels of creativity and mastering that is fruit to struggle, endurance and revelation. Just as Gary Marcus talks about the different teachers and their teaching styles, those teachers would have had to come through some revelation - usually through personal struggle and disagreement to what was accepted to be the most popular way. Although young prodigies exist, and some geniuses aren't scouted till the mid-years, this idea of genius/talent and its relation to suffering/practice is something that will be continued to explored. Bear with me, but just what if suffering or practice was a type of God-given ability as well?
References:
Marcus.Gary F. Guitar Zero. New York: The Penguin Press. 2012. 1-202. Print.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/09/10/correcting-creativity-the-struggle-for-eminence/
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